Saturday, August 25, 2012

Jubilee.

The Dieppe raid. Jubilee. Abortive landings on the French coast by combined British and Canadian units with a smattering of American Rangers included in the mix. Heavy even prohibitive casualties the results of raid felt to be almost nil, only in disaster could be comfort found from lessons learned of WHAT NOT TO DO!!

The BEST military units the English could muster sent into battle and decimated by second-rate German army units using second-rate equipment. A mission the historians have debated as to WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE REAL INTENT!

SECRET at the time and now only made apparent that among the raiders was the British 30AU unit. Tasked with capturing German naval four-rotor enigma machines, personnel, documents, etc.

Those "many purposes" for the Dieppe raid all valid to some extent NOW add to the list the secret mission of 30AU [assault unit].

30AU under the command of Ian Fleming and tasked with the capture of enemy top secret weaponry, scientists and engineers, documents, experimental models. 30AU operating incognito and heading of the most forward advancing friendly element.

Royal Marine commando under naval control again operating in mufti and incorporated into the Dieppe raider force with a special mission, grab a four-rotor naval Enigma cryptographic machine intact and return to England with same!! Please recall that James Bond as described by Ian Fleming a Royal Marine officer who fought during WW2 as a commando at least in the mind of Fleming probably a trooper landing at Dieppe!!

"Ian Fleming and the 30 Assault Unit"

"During the Second World War, Ian Fleming — the legendary author of the James Bond spy series novels — acted as a personal assistant to Britain’s head of naval intelligence, Admiral John Godfrey."

"He, along with other naval intelligence specialists, created the No. 30 Commando or the 30 Assault Unit (30AU) — a team of special commandos that were put into the Dieppe operation under the unit name No. 40 Royal Marine Commando."

The German army Enigma cryptographic machine having three rotors and the plug board, the German navy having introduced the four-rotor machine with plug board, much harder to analyze and "break' secret messages so vital to success during the Battle of the Atlantic.

"Pinching" a weapon felt to the the quick and dirty answer to the problem. A "pinch" not possible at Dieppe, the resistance so fierce, British forces unable to complete the mission and capture a naval four-rotor Engima.

"According to the newly-discovered files, while Fleming and the 30 AU were looking to hit various German vessels that were in Dieppe’s harbour, their primary target was the German headquarters, located at Hotel Moderne near the main harbour in Dieppe."

"The main target"

"A search plan revealed that British naval intelligence considered Hotel Moderne to be the German naval headquarters and control centre. They believed the hotel room would house Enigma coding machines and a safe with enough material regarding German war operations for the next six to eight months."

I was aware of 30AU and their activities in France and Germany AT THE END OF THE WAR - - BUT obviously the Ian Fleming contingent participated in more missions for the totality of the war in an unheard of and unrecognized way, AT LEAST UNTIL NOW!!

When James Bond describes the rounds of a German Spandau heavy machine gun being fired over his head, this is his recollection of Dieppe? Could be!!